1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lock off-lock on, or a restraint, for preventing inadvertent operation of a circuit breaker operating handle. Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide new and improved devices of such character.
2. General Background
A circuit breaker, to which this invention is applicable, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,998, issued to Harold E. Belttary on Sept. 9, 1975. The circuit breaker includes a housing of insulating material, various internal components, and a manually movable handle mounted in the housing. The housing comprises a case of suitable insulating material and a cover of suitable material. The case and cover are typically of molded plastic. The handle, of insulating material, is pivotally mounted within the case in a conventional manner for manual operation. The handle extends outwardly from a slot in the case with a dependent arcuate portion of the handle in proximal relationship with the interior of the slot. The handle of the circuit breaker is adapted to have an aperture therethrough transverse to the direction of movement of the handle so as to facilitate ganging of handles when a plurality of breakers are ganged together; in single usage, the handle of a breaker would have its aperture occluded by flash in the molding process.
Though multi-pole lock offs-lock ons are commercially available, it is desirable to provide a restraint for locking on, or locking off, the handle of a circuit breaker.
When a homeowner desires to repair an electrical fault in his house, he would normally switch the appropriate circuit breaker to the off position so that the fault could be safely repaired. To assure that some other party, a child or spouse for example, would not inadvertently throw the switch handle into the "on" position, it becomes desirable to restrain the switch into its "off" position with a "lock off" or restraint.